Donna Adams

Donna Phillips Adams Donna Phillips Adams, 86, passed away peacefully on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, in Fort Worth, TX. Memorial service: A private interment will be held at a later time. Memorials: In lieu of flowers, the family requests that friends consider a contribution in Donna's memory to the James L. West Center, 1111 Summit Ave., Fort Worth, TX 76104; or Friends of the Fort Worth Public Library, Inc., 500 W. 3rd St., Fort Worth, TX 76102. Donna was born May 25, 1924, in Fresno, CA, to the late Donald K. Phillips and Jean Allen Phillips. In the 1930s during the depths of the Depression, the family moved by car twice a year from San Francisco, Calif., or New York City, N.Y., in the summers to Palm Beach, FL, in the winter where her father managed the E.F. Hutton offices. As a result Donna, an only child, went to three schools each school year. After his permanent placement in the New York office, the Phillips family settled in Glen Rock, NJ Donna graduated from Ridgewood, NJ, High School in June 1941. Donna's extraordinary musical talent was recognized before the age of 10 by an early piano teacher who discovered her innate singing gift and convinced her parents that Donna should be given voice lessons. Thus this prodigy started her singing career, eventually training as a teen under noted voice teachers in New York City. When she was old enough to travel to New York City alone for Saturday morning voice lessons, she enjoyed attending matinee performances of the Metropolitan Opera in the standing room section. While in high school, Donna concertized and performed as church soloist. After graduation, Donna attended the New Jersey College for Women for two years. She won first place in the National Federation of Music Clubs voice contest. She attended the Juilliard School of Music, and graduated in 1945 at the top of this elite class in both voice and piano. While at Juilliard she was a regular on the weekly Ford Music Radio Hour. This show was performed live twice each Sunday several hours apart for East and then West Coast broadcasts. After graduation, she lived on both coasts, performed in various musical theaters and traveled with the General Motors Cavalcade as singer soloist. As a contract soprano soloist, she performed in many operas, including her favorites, La Boheme and La Traviata, with companies such as the San Francisco Opera Company and the Charles Wagner Opera. Donna traveled with the national touring companies of Oklahoma! and Carousel. Additionally she performed in and sang on the soundtrack of numerous movies, radio and television programs, and on the Las Vegas stage of such clubs as the Thunderbird and Tropicana with the big bands. Among her accomplishments of which she was most proud was being featured as the first non-Mormon soprano soloist at the Mormon Tabernacle Easter program and its live national radio broadcast. On June 23, 1955, Donna married her high school sweetheart, William Curtis Adams, M.D. Their "on again, off again" relationship was cemented when, as a polio patient, she awoke in an iron lung to find Bill as her attending physician. During their 53 years of marriage, Bill and Donna lived in Louisville, KY, Coral Gables, FL, and Dothan, AL, where he practiced medicine before retiring to Fort Worth in 1992. Knowing that music would remain a lifelong spiritual link, Donna set aside her nationally recognized singing career in favor of raising a family. She was an avid reader, an active arts patron, and community servant. Her artistic talents extended to hand work and sewing of all types. In each community in which she lived during her married life, Donna was an active member of and held leadership roles in Woman's Clubs, the Medical Society Allian-ces/Auxiliaries, needlework guilds, book clubs and the Episcopal Church. During a portion of the time that Dr. Adams was in private practice in Coral Gables, Donna functioned as the manager of his medical office. After her children reached junior high, Donna obtained real estate salesman's and broker's licenses, and then achieved her Graduate Real Estate Institute designation in September 1976. In 1975, the couple moved to Dothan, AL, and Donna continued her real estate career there. She completed the Dothan Chamber of Commerce Leadership Course. Recognizing a need to bring awareness of and accessibility to the fine arts to Southeast Alabama, she founded and was the charter president of the South Alabama Symphony Society. She was co-founder of several community service agencies including Do-than's first hospice program, the Chrysalis Home for Girls, and the area's program for abused and battered women. Upon moving to Fort Worth in 1992, Donna quickly settled in and made dear friends through the Newcomers Club, the Tarrant County Medical Alliance, The Woman's Club, and Friends of the Library. Bill and Donna attended many concerts, arts programs and museum exhibits, as well as book reviews and library events. Donna led a rich and varied life; her family and friends meant the world to her, even at times of illness when she was less able to keep in personal touch. The family would like to extend special thanks to Donna's health care providers, including Dr. Teresa Godbey and Patty, Dr. Janice Knebl and the staff at James L. West Special Care Center; caregivers and companions, Connie Torres, Theresa Alston, Lisa Silva, Linda Baldwin, and Dorothy Mayfield; and the staff at Community Hospice of Texas. Donna was preceded in death by her parents and husband. Survivors: Donna is survived by her son and his fiancee, William Curtis "Bill" Adams III and Olga Peresta of Whitefish, MO; daughter and son-in-law, Victoria Ann "Tori" Adams and James E. "Jim" DuBose of Fort Worth; grand-daughters, Anna Adams DuBose and Jamie Adams DuBose of Fort Worth; and extended family and dear friends in Fort Worth and across the country. Greenwood Funeral Home of Fort Worth, TX, (817) 336-0584, is in charge of arrangements. Sign the guestbook at www.dothaneagle.com.